Nick had to admit that despite his hesitance to join the power rangers, there were some perks, the mystic racers for example, who would have thought that a broom would have been faster than his bike. The only problem with them where that they didn't have good brakes so when he realized that they were hurtling towards Clare all he could do was shout out a warning and then apologize later.
The wind flew around them, causing their capes to flap behind them, Nick glanced behind him, "Try to keep up Pinky," he offered, gaining speed.
"No one calls me 'Pinky'," Vidia insisted.
"Go get him V," Xander called out as the pink ranger picked up speed to run down the red ranger.
Soon V was dodging through trees right behind Nick, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pass, when it happened, Nick flew right into a tree.
"Who's in the lead now Nicky boy?" V asked as she flew past.
"That would be me," Chip announced, passing V while she was taunting Nick.
They all laughed as they approached Dragonroot, before Nick called out, "Dismount."
They all jumped off their racers, and landed on the ground, snatching their broomsticks as they fell from the sky.
"Very good Rangers," Udonna announced, "That's enough Mystic Racer Practice for today."
Chip and V groaned, "Come on, one more lap around the forest," Chip pleaded.
"Yeah, I'm just getting warmed up," V added, "I want to see what this bad boy can really do."
The others chuckled, but Udonna shook her head, "I'm afraid not," she insisted, "It's time for Elementary incantation."
Chip and V groaned before announcing in perfect unison, "Boring."
"Hey," Maddy insisted, "I think it sounds kind of interesting."
"Only you Sis," V sighed before turning to Udonna, "The Mystic Racers are pretty cool, but now that we're power rangers won't we get a lot of other cool stuff too?"
"Oh Yeah," Chip agreed, "I mean no one's more excited than me to finally get to wear a cape."
"Finally?" Xander called out, "If I remember correctly you use to come to school with a pillowcase pinned to your back."
"Yeah but that was a long time..."
"It was last week."
Nick snorted trying to imagine wearing a cape to school, none the last a pillowcase. His new friends were weird all right, but then again that seemed to be the pattern of power ranger teams they have to have at least one crazy one.
"V's right," Chip continued, "We're superheroes now, where's the rest of our vehicles..."
"They're called Zords," Nick insisted, "Those giant vehicles that power ranger use to fight giant monsters, yeah, they're called Zords. Thought that was common knowledge."
"Okay, cool," Chip said, "What about them and the weapons and gadgets that we get."
"The Xenotome holds the spell codes that can unlock magical powers beyond your imagination."
V's face lit up, "So what are we waiting for, let's bust it open learn the codes and get our booty."
"It doesn't work like that," Nick insisted, "If you try to do a spell that you are unprepared for it could lead to disastrous consequences, like the Titanic."
The others looked at each other in confusion, what did the sinking of the Titanic have to do with magic?
"Nick is right," Udonna said, you much prove that you are ready for each spell by doing heroic deeds and grow as rangers the Xenotome will reveal the spell codes, when the time is right."
…
Nick stared at the spell book in front of him, having powers was common in his family but simple magic was unusual, and while he knew that it took some time to master a power, it took years to fully master pure magic.
"Man, look at all these incantations," Xander announced, looking up from his book, "How is my brain suppose to fit in all this new information?"
Maddy set down the books she was carrying, offering to help before casting a spell that caused Xander's head to swell to twice its normal size, "Now you have lots more room," she said over Nick's laughter, Maddy really was getting a hang of her wand.
"And I thought he had a big head before," Nick confessed, doubling over.
Xander blinked, "Very funny, now Madison, if you wouldn't mind."
Maddy sighed, turning Xander back to normal, apparently she wasn't going to risk getting in trouble for casting a spell on Xander.
…
Nick slowly followed Maddy and Xander through the school lawn, having jumped through the portal to there instead of to the one across the street from the music store since Toby had a tendency to watch it since they first went through it the day before.
"Hey, Chip and Vida never showed," Xander pointed out, "Where do you think they even went."
"I don't know," Maddy said, sticking her hands in her pocket, "When my sister gets that crazy look in her eye, it typically means trouble."
"Yeah," Nick chuckled, "I totally understand, I have four sisters, and trust me, when Ruby gets an idea in her head, it usually ends with Aunt Star having to mind wipe someone."
"You sure know a lot about magic," Maddy commented, "How is that?"
"It kind of runs in my family," Nick said, fingering his ring, which was burning again, "Something bad is about to happen," he announced.
"How do you know that?" Xander asked, peering at Nick.
"My ring is heating up, it only does that when something big is about to happen, it's activating the Keeper Protection to protect me from the Keeper Curse," He explained, "Which usually means something really bad is about to happen."
"Imagine that," a new voice called out, "The Keeper Curse is still in effect."
"Who are you," Nick demanded, dropping his ring before it could burn him, it was weird Ronny and Kira never mentioned their necklaces burning them, but then again, Kira rarely wore hers, and Ronny wasn't a ranger so all the truly crazy stuff didn't happen to her.
"I am Necrolai, mistress of darkness," the humanoid creature announced, "of the underworld."
"I'll handle this," Xander insisted, blocking Nick.
"Creatures from the Underworld can't be reasoned with," Nick insisted, pulling him back, "We have to morph."
The fight was short, despite Nick doing everything his parents had taught him, this was a new enemy, a new threat, they were a new team. It was going to take them a little while for them to work out how to strengthen each others weak spots and learn how to exploit the weaknesses of the enemy. Especially since this was obviously a henchman or woman as the case might be and not an ordinary foot soldier.
The Vampire gripped all three of them taking off into the air. Nick shuddered a little as they flew through the magical barrier in the woods. Necrolai was headed straight to a hungry looking monster. Great, he was about to become lunch for a monster, he really should have stayed in Reefside, at least monsters don't seem to attack the same town for over a year, except for Angel Grove, but Angel Grove was always an exception to the rules governing power rangers.
…
Nick groaned there was green slime all over the place, no wonder Kira and Mom was always complaining about monsters messing up their hair. Suddenly there was a ringing noise, someone was calling him on his morpher.
"Guys it's Chip, where are you?" Chip's voice called out.
"We're in the belly of the beast," Nick called out, "Stay back Chip, he has room for seconds."
Suddenly the whole belly shook before he and the others were propelled out of the monster with a mighty sneeze.
Nick picked himself up, groaning at the monster saliva that covered him, "I'm covered in monster muck," he complained, why did none of the power rangers in his life warned him about the downside of being a power ranger, like being blasted with monster muck, or eaten alive.
...
"Now what do we do?" V asked.
"This is usually where we call in the Zords," Nick said.
"Do we have any?" Chip asked, "because that would be great."
"All power rangers have them," Nick insisted, as a golden globe floated onto his phone, "And I bet this spell code we unlocked is what we need to activate them."
"All right," Chip said, "That must be what Udonna meant about being a true hero."
Nick rolled his eyes before punching in the spell code. It was for their zords, as he had suspected, however, instead of being vehicles they turned into the zords themselves, something he hadn't heard of before.
V, who had turned into a giant pink robotic fairy seemed to be able to turn herself into a ball which they kicked back and forth until it went right into the monster, who exploded.
"And that's how you defeat a monster," Nick said sighing slightly as he transformed back into a human.
…
"We totally Kicked Butt out there," V said, turning around backwards as she pushed the doors open to the music store.
The others chuckled except for Nick, who upon entering the store, noticed an African American state trooper talking to Toby at the counter.
"Whoa," Chip said, "That's T.J. Johnson, he's the best power ranger out there."
Nick grimaced as T.J. turned around to face them, there was no way T.J. wouldn't recognize him and he didn't really want his new teammates to learn that he's a runaway, and he couldn't interrupt T.J. with Toby standing there, letting him know that he couldn't return home until his service as a power ranger was over. Unless he could tell him silently. Power rangers are suppose to be able to identify one another no matter if they are secret identity or public identities. Nick tilted his head and gave T.J. a hard look, yes, there it was a soft red glow that flickered to blue, the words Turbo and Astro flickered through his mind, but he wasn't sure if that was part of the identifying powers or just the fact that he already knew that those where his team.
T.J. was staring back at him, "I should have known," he stated shaking his head, "You are your father's son after all."
"What's that suppose to mean," Chip hissed.
Nick shrugged ignoring him, "Well, TJ, I'm my father's son, you know that I'm not coming back with you."
"What's going on?" Xander asked.
Toby spoke up from the counter, "Turns out Nick here is a runaway, saw it on the afternoon news so I called it in, his parents are mighty worried about him."
Nick snorted, "More like they're worried about me damaging their precious perfect reputation."
"Nicolas," TJ said sternly.
"I can't go home yet," Nick pleaded, "Can you please tell my parents that I got a summer job and I can crash at my friends houses, please?"
TJ pinched his nose, "technically your parents called the police and I am legally responsible to bring you home safely, however your parents will understand the situation, and it will be hard to find someone to replace you, so..."
"Actually," Toby insisted, "I can always hire a new person, someone that isn't a runaway."
TJ ignored him, turning to Nick, "I guess that will work, but you need to tell your parents of this development yourself, and be careful, I know enough about your family to know that you are nothing but a bad luck magnet."
With that the former ranger turned to leave, "By the way, I'm not the best power ranger, I'm just the face of the power rangers here on earth, the legendary power couple are the best, ask Nick about them, he's actually met them," he told Chip before heading outside.
Everyone turned to Nick in disbelief, "You're a runaway?" V demanded.
"You've actually met the Legendary Power Couple?" Chip demanded.
Nick groaned, "Yes, technically I ran away, and actually..." he glanced around, Toby had went into the back office, "They're my parents."
"They're your what!" Chip shouted.